Apparatus for delivering heavy lubricating oil or grease



P. B. JOHNSON. APPARATUS FOR DELIVERING HEAVY LUBRICATING OIL 0R GREASE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.2. 1919.

Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

Y desired point.

PETER. B. JOHNSON, 0F SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

APPARATUS FOR DELIVERING HEAVY LUBRICATING OIL OR GREASE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

. Application filed April. 2, 1919. Serial No. 287,066. I

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, PETER B. JoHNsoN, acitizen of the United States,-residing at Seattle, in the county of Kingand State of Washington, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Apparatus for DeliveringHeavy Lubricating Oil or Grease,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements 'in apparatus for delivering heavylubricating oil or grease in measured quantities into gear boxes,transmission housings and like places, and the object of my invention isto provide anapparatus which comprises a pressure tank wherein heavylubricating oil or grease may be stored and a measuring receptacle orgrease gun connected with said tank by flexible tubing which grease gunis provided with suitable valves that may be manipulated to cause themeasuring receptacle to fill-with heavy lubricating oil or grease andthen causesuch heavy oil or grease to be ejected and'delivered to anyAnother object is to provide means with in the storage tank forpreventing the com- I pressed air from forcing. its way through thelubricating oil of ease;

A still further object is to provide agrease gun that is arranged to be.operated by the air pressurefrom the storage tank and that has a gageconnected therewith so that the operator can determine the amount of oilor grease there is 1n the greasegun,

A still further object is to rovide an apparatus in which the valves, tat control the loading and discharging means, are connected with thegrease gun whereby said ap-- paratus may be operated by a single person.

The invention consists in the novelconstruction, adaptation andcombination of parts as will be more clearly hereinafter described and.claimed. I

I accomplish these objectsby devices illus trated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein Fig'ure l-is. a view in vertical mid-section of astorage tank constructed in accordance with my invention, certain partsbeing:

shown in elevation; and i Fig. 2 is an enlarged view in elevation-of agrease gun that isdeslgned to be. used in connectlon'with the tank shownin Fig.

1,' certain parts of which being shown by dotted lines and certain otherparts of which being partly broken away.

sure therein. H v v I The grease gun, shown n Fig. 2, com- 110 Referringto the drawings, throughout which like reference numerals indicate likeparts, 5 designates a cylindrical pressure tank that is provided with atop end 6', an

inner bottom 6 and a bottom end .7 which may be rigid with the tank orremovable therefrom as desired. The wall of the tank 5 is provided at apoint a little moreand the inner bottom 6 and terminating near thebottom 7 is a centrallyarranged grease outlet pipe 10, the upper end ofwhich is connected by an elbow 11 and a short pipe 12 with a longflexible hose 13,

The bottom endof the pipe .10 is closed by a cap 14 and is provided justabove the inner bottom 6 with relatively large openings through whichgrease may enter. Secured to the pipe 10. just above the openings 15 isa relatively small cone-shaped shell or guard member 16 and secured tothe pipe 10 above the small cone-shaped guard member 16 is alargercone-shaped guard member 17 theperipheral edges of which extendoutwardly so. that they are only a short distance fromthe inner wall ofthe'tank 5. The guard members 16 and 17 and the inner bottom 6' serve toguide the grease in its movementto the holes 15 and serve to maintain asufficient body of grease between the holes 15 and the air in the top ofthe tank 5 so that the air will not force its way downwardly through thegrease and upwardly through the pipe'lO.

-- 18 is a tube or pipe that is connected with a valve 20 and projectsdownwardly into ,the tank 5 to substantially the level of thegreaseinlet 8, the bottom end of the tube 18 being covered with a screen 21 ofrelatively' fine mesh through which the heavy lu a pressure may becreated within the tank5.

23 is a pressure gage that communicates with .the interior of the tank 5for the-purpose of indicating the plus 'or minus presprises a; tubularreceptacle 24 having. a piston 25f freely movablev therein; The for.

ward end of thetubular receptacle 24 is pro-' vided with a cap 26 havinga r shank 27 that is connected with a valve casing 28 wherein isdisposed a three way valve of any well known form of construction thatis arranged to be operated by a hand hold 30.

The end of the valve casing 28 is connected with a tubular greasedischarge spout 31 which may be curved in any desired manner tofacilitate its insertion into gear housings and like inaccessibleplaces. The side of the .valve casing 28 is connected by an elbowfitting 32 and pipe 33 with the outer or free end of the hose 13 thatconnects with the pipe 10 in the tank 5.

The rear end of the tubular receptacle 24 is provided with a cap 31 thatis connected with a valve 35, which valve is connected by a flexibletube or hose 36 with another valve 37 that communicates with the upperinterior portion of the tank 5 so that when the valves 35 and 37 areboth opened air under pressure may pass from the upper end of the tank 5to the rear end of the grease gun.

The cap 34 is also provided with a boss 38 through which a gage wire 40is arranged to project, the gage wire 40 enabling the operator todetermine the position of the piston 25 and to thereby determine theamount of grease that there is in the tubular member 24. The end of theboss 38 is threaded for the reception of a wing nut 41 which may serveto hold packing around the gage wire 40 and in which is provided aperforation 42 through which air may escape slowly when the wing nut isloosened. lVhen the grease gun is filled and the piston 25 is movingrearwardly ashereinafter described the wing nut 11 may. be loosened topermit the escape of air from the rear end of the receptacle 24 andbefore compressed air is admitted through the valve 35 then wing nut 41'may be tightened to prevent the escape of air during the dischargingstroke of the piston 25.

The operationof my invention is as follows: The device is set up and thegrease gun shown in Fig. 2 is connected with the outer end of the hose13 and the air tube 36. When the storage tank 5 is to be filled withgrease the cap 9 is removed and the inlet vent 8 is connected by anysuitable means, not shown, with a receptacle, as a barrel or tankwherein heavy lubricating grease or oil is stored; the valve 20 is thenopened and a suction is exerted through the tube 18 to cause the oil orgrease to be drawn into the tank 5 through such inlet vent 8. As the oilor grease is drawn into the tank 5 it will collect in the bottom of suchtank and when the level of the grease or oil is high enough so that itsurrounds the fine mesh screen 21 which covers the end of the tube 18such tube will automatically be sealed owing to the fact that therelatively heavy oil or grease will not penetrate the mesh of the screen21 even though suction is exerted within the tube 18.

As soon as the tank 5 has been filled to the level of the bottom end ofthe tube 18,-

as indicated by the dotted line in Fig. 1, the inlet vent 8 may beclosed by the cap 9. Air may then. be pmnpcd into the upper end -of thetank 5 until the gage 23 indicates that the pressure is sutficient toforce the heavy oil or grease upwardly through the tube 10 andthencethrough the hose 13 to the grease gun. The valve 20 may then beclosed leaving the device ready for operation.

When the grease gun is to be operated the three way valve in the casing28 is turned so thatthe passageway from the hose 13 to the interior ofthe tubular member 24 is opened and the passageway to the spout 31 isclosed, thereby permitting the air pressure in the tank 5 to forcegrease into the forward end of the tubular member 24: and to crowd thepiston 25 to the rear end of such tubular member. As soon as the tubularmember 21 is filled with oil or grease the three-way valve in the casing28 may be turned to close the passageway to the hose 13 and open thepassageway to the spout 31, which spout may then be placed at the pointwhere it is desired to deliver the oil or grease and the valve 35 openedto admit air under pressure behind the piston 25 and force such pistontoward the outer end of the tubular member 24 thereby forcing the oil orgrease through the spout 31.

Erom the foregoing it will be seen that aer my apparatus is char ed andready for operation very little attention will be required, the operatorwho is handling the grease gun being able to control the inlet anddischarge of oil or grease, in measured quantities, by manipulation ofthe three-way valve 28 and the valve 35 and the air hose 36 and thegrease tube 13 being of flexible material which will permit the greasegun to be inserted into gear boxes and differential housings, inlocations diflicult of access.

Obviouslychanges may be made in the form of construction and arrangementof parts= of my invention without departing from the spirit thereof.

What I claim is:

1. Apparatus of the class described comprising a pressure tank, a tubeextending downwardly through the top of said tank to a point near thebottom thereof and having openings adjacent its bottom end and a guardmember arranged above said openings for directing downwardly movinggrease toward the outer wall of said tank.

2. Apparatus of the class described com in and a deflector for causinggrease to travel in a circuitous path to reach said openings. I

3. Apparatus of the class described comprising a pressure tank, meansfor introducing air under pressure into the upper portion of said tank;a pipe projecting through the top of said tank and terminating at apoint near the bottom thereof, said pipe having openings near its bottomend; and a cone-shaped guard member arranged above the openings in saidpipe, the periphery of which guard member being adjacent to but spacedfrom the walls of said tank.

4. Apparatus for handling heavy grease comprising a pressure tank havinga grease inlet opening in one side thereof, a tube projecting downwardlyfrom the top of said tank substantially to the level of said greaseinlet openin a screen covering the end of said tube; a combined airsuction and air pressure pipe connected with the upper end of said tube;and a centrally arranged pipe pro ecting downwardly through the top ofsaid tank and terminating near the bottom thereof. said tube havingopenings. adjacent the bottom end thereof.

5. Apparatus for handling heavy grease comprising a pressure tank havinga grease inlet opening, a tube projecting downwardly from the top ofsaid tank substantially to the level of said inlet opening; a screencovering the end of said tube; a combined air suction and air pressurepipe connected with the upper end of said tube; a centrally arrangedpipe projecting downwardly through said tank; and a conical guard membersecured to the lower portion of said pipe, the peripheral edge of whichguard member terminates adjacent to but is spaced from the walls of saidtank.

6. Apparatus for delivering heavy grease comprising a pressure tankhaving a grease inlet opening; a tube projecting downwardly from the topof said tank substantially to the level of said grease inlet opening; ascreen covering the end of said tube; combined air suction and airpressure means connected with the upper end of said tube; a centrallyarranged pipe projecting downwardly through the top of said tank andterminating having openings adjacent the bottom end thereof;

a smaller guard member carried by said pipe and arranged a shortdistance above the openingstherein; a larger guard member secured tosaid pipe above said smaller guard member the peripheral edge of saidlarger guard member terminating ad acent to but being spaced from thewalls of said tank; a flexible tube connected with the upper end of saidpipe; and a grease gun disposed on the end of said flexible tube.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 25th day of March,A. D. 1919.

PETER B. JOHNSON.

near the bottom thereof, said pipe

